THAT’S JUST THE TIP OF A JO’BURG
Uttarika Kumaran finds that there is demarcation even in Johannesburg’s development
Sandton in northern Johannesburg. Home to the rich and successful, and one of the wealthiest suburbs in South Africa. Just six kilometres away is Alexandra, also called Alex, a former black township and one of the poorest and most densely populated urban areas in the country.
Every morning in Sandton, the two worlds meet without touching. As Mercs and BMWs roll past with amazing regularity on the manicured streets, the black working class from Alex and the suburbs further south make their way to work on foot — ending up behind the checkout counters of the Sandton City shopping mall or in the housekeeping staff of the several luxury and business hotels that dot this Hollywood-inspired landscape.
Even though apartheid was abolished in South Africa nearly two decades ago, the geography of cities like Johannesburg belies the ugly truth of a country that was once divided along racial lines. Sandton, for example, gained prominence soon after the 1994 general election which marked the end of the apartheid and made Nelson Mandela the country’s first black president after three centuries of white rule. Fears of impending racial violence led several large corporations and banks located in the Central Business District (known as Jo’burg CBD) to shift to the northern suburbs of Sandton and Rosebank, leaving the area’s economy in shambles. This ‘white flight’ was the beginning of a wholly new type of segregation that the country is still grappling with today.
“After 1994, we expected a gravy train to come our way but did not understand that there was another ugly monster about to rear its head — capitalism,” admits our tour guide as he navigates the tour bus through the streets of his hometown, the Soweto township. Situated in a mining belt in the south, an estimated four million of the 10 million residents of Johannesburg live in Soweto. They also make up a considerable chunk of the 24% unemployment rate in the city that is cited as the primary cause for rampant crime in the area. But, once at the epicentre of the anti-apartheid struggle, the people of Soweto - predominantly coloured and Asian migrants — have learnt that in the struggle for economic equality, the only way to slay the monster is to join its ranks.
Enter township tourism. The official Soweto tour entails a bus packed with mostly European tourists who get off intermittently to check out the historical sights on the way and guardedly point their expensive DSLRs at the local kids who will sell you souvenirs or sing you a ditty for a price. Hundreds of such organised tours run through the tourist-friendly sections of the township every day. And even though this practice is often referred to by naysayers as ‘poverty porn’ or ‘voyeurism packaged as entertainment’, every tourist is estimated to help eight Sowetans earn a living. In fact, township tourism has become such a booming business that in recent years even the government has turned its attention to developing this sector.
It was a local radio producer who eventually confided in an informal conversation: “We are quite sick as a nation. The apartheid deeply affected the way we think. We have a lot to unlearn and it will take us a long time.” But in the city of Johannesburg as with most places, it seems as if even good intentions are leading to old lessons being forgotten.
Uttarika Kumaran finds that there is demarcation even in Johannesburg’s development
Sandton in northern Johannesburg. Home to the rich and successful, and one of the wealthiest suburbs in South Africa. Just six kilometres away is Alexandra, also called Alex, a former black township and one of the poorest and most densely populated urban areas in the country.
Every morning in Sandton, the two worlds meet without touching. As Mercs and BMWs roll past with amazing regularity on the manicured streets, the black working class from Alex and the suburbs further south make their way to work on foot — ending up behind the checkout counters of the Sandton City shopping mall or in the housekeeping staff of the several luxury and business hotels that dot this Hollywood-inspired landscape.
Even though apartheid was abolished in South Africa nearly two decades ago, the geography of cities like Johannesburg belies the ugly truth of a country that was once divided along racial lines. Sandton, for example, gained prominence soon after the 1994 general election which marked the end of the apartheid and made Nelson Mandela the country’s first black president after three centuries of white rule. Fears of impending racial violence led several large corporations and banks located in the Central Business District (known as Jo’burg CBD) to shift to the northern suburbs of Sandton and Rosebank, leaving the area’s economy in shambles. This ‘white flight’ was the beginning of a wholly new type of segregation that the country is still grappling with today.
“After 1994, we expected a gravy train to come our way but did not understand that there was another ugly monster about to rear its head — capitalism,” admits our tour guide as he navigates the tour bus through the streets of his hometown, the Soweto township. Situated in a mining belt in the south, an estimated four million of the 10 million residents of Johannesburg live in Soweto. They also make up a considerable chunk of the 24% unemployment rate in the city that is cited as the primary cause for rampant crime in the area. But, once at the epicentre of the anti-apartheid struggle, the people of Soweto - predominantly coloured and Asian migrants — have learnt that in the struggle for economic equality, the only way to slay the monster is to join its ranks.
Enter township tourism. The official Soweto tour entails a bus packed with mostly European tourists who get off intermittently to check out the historical sights on the way and guardedly point their expensive DSLRs at the local kids who will sell you souvenirs or sing you a ditty for a price. Hundreds of such organised tours run through the tourist-friendly sections of the township every day. And even though this practice is often referred to by naysayers as ‘poverty porn’ or ‘voyeurism packaged as entertainment’, every tourist is estimated to help eight Sowetans earn a living. In fact, township tourism has become such a booming business that in recent years even the government has turned its attention to developing this sector.
It was a local radio producer who eventually confided in an informal conversation: “We are quite sick as a nation. The apartheid deeply affected the way we think. We have a lot to unlearn and it will take us a long time.” But in the city of Johannesburg as with most places, it seems as if even good intentions are leading to old lessons being forgotten.
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